Frequency selector and calibrator



4. A wagon having a body with a horizontal bottom of sheet metal, a bracket formed from sheet metal at a middle portion thereof into a substantially cylindrical form and with wings diverging rearwardly and outwardly and with a vertical gap at the rear of said cylinder between the wings, means for permanently securing said wings to the under side of the body, a sheet metal member secured to said wings closing said gap, said sheet metal member at its upper end terminating a distance below the bottom of the body, a bolster located transversely of the body underneath the lower end of the cylindrical portion of the bracket, a kingpin connected to said bolster and extending upwardly through the cylindrical portion of the bracket, a bearing for the upper end of the kingpin within said cylindrical portion of the bracket and below the bottom of the body, a pin releasably passing through said kingpin at its upper end above said bearing, said pin being accessible from the rear of said cylindrical portion of the bracket immediately below the bottom of the body, a bearing between the upper side of said bolster and the lower side of said bracket located around the kingpin, a tongue structure connected to the bolster and extending forwardly therefrom, and an axle having wheels one at each end located longitudinally of and at the lower portion of the bolster and connected therewith.

5. A construction as defined in claim 4, said bolster comprising a length of sheet metal of inverted generally channel form having spaced front and rear sides and an upper web through which said kingpin passes, said axle lying between said front and rear sides of the bolster near their lower edges said upper side of the bolster adjacent its middle portion inclining downwardly and outwardly away therefrom and securing clips around said bolster at the ends thereof clamping it to the axle.

6. In a wagon structure as described, a front axle unit comprising a horizontal axle, a wheel mounted at each end of the axle, a bolster of sheet metal of substantially channel form having an upper web and spaced depending sides located lengthwise of and over said axle, means connecting the bolster at its ends to the axle, a member located horizontally between the depending sides of said bolster adjacent the lower portions thereof and substantially midway between the ends of said bolster, a kingpin secured to said member extending in a substantially vertical direction therefrom through the upper side of said-bolster, an upper tongue member of inverted channel form having a rear end portion passing over the upper side of the middle part'or said bolster, said kingpin passing therethrough, a second tongue member of inverted channel form having its rear end located at the lower side of said bolster, means connecting said second tongue member with the bolster, said tongue members extending forwardly and converging toward each other, each adjacent its forward end having a portion of its upper web between its flanges removed and the flanges of one member passing within the flanges of the other at their forward meeting ends, a horizontal pivot pin passing through said forward meeting ends of the tongue members and a tongue through one end of which said pivot passes.

'7. In a construction as described, a wagon body having a horizontal under side, a bracket secured to said under side having a front substantially vertical hollow portion extending down,- wardly nearthe front end of the body, spaced bearings one at the lower end of and one located thereabove, spaced from and within the hollow portion of the bracket, a kingpin passing through said bearings and extending below the bracket, releasable mean securing the kingpin in place above the upper bearing, a transverse bolster in which the lower end portion of the kingpin is secured, supporting means on said bolster pivotally mounted to turn about a substantially horizontal axis substantially parallel to the length of the wagon body to which the king pin is secured at its lower end, said bolster where the kingpin passes upwardly therethrough being slotted to permit a relative turning of the bolster about said axis with respect to said kingpin, an axle parallel to and connected with the bolster, a wheel at each end of the axle and a tongue connected with the bolster extending forwardly therefrom. v

8. A wagon having a body, a bracket extending downwardly from the forward end of the body, an axle having wheels at its ends, a bolster connected to said axle and extending upwardly therefrom, a king pin pivotally connected at its lower end to the lower part of said bolster and extending upwardly into said bracket, said bolster having an opening through which said king pin passes, said opening being elongated longitudinally of said axle, a, bearing for the upper end of said king pin in said bracket and said bolster and surrounding said king pin.

9. The elements of claim 8 in which said bolster has a bearing supporting surface curved concentric with the pivotal connection of the lower end of the king pin.

10. A wagon having a body, a bracket extending downwardly from the forward part of the body, an axle having wheels at its ends, a bolster attached to said axle and extending upwardly therefrom, a king pin attached to said bolster and extending into said bracket, an embossment on the upper part of said bolster and surrounding said king pin, a tongue member shaped to receive said embossment and attached thereto, a bearing between said bracket and said bolster and a bearing in said bracket for the upper end of said king pin.

11. The elements of claim 10 combined with a second tongue member attached at one end to said first tongue member and attached at its other end to said axle.

THOMAS I. DUFFY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,536,768 Casler May 5, 1925 1,371,246 John Mar. 15, 1921 1,434,839 Palmer Nov. 7, 1922 1,610,148 Peirson Dec. 7, 1926 April 15, 1947. P. 5. GA(

FREQUENCY SELECTOR AND CALIBRKTOR Filed March 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2.

Fro-1.

FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. BY}.

ATTORNEY April 15, 1947..

P. s. GAY

FREQUENCY SELECTOR AND CALIBRATOR Filed MarchJQ, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Pica-i.

INVENTOR.

A'IT OR N Y j -84. FIG. 8

Flt-L9. FIG.9A.

of Figure 5. "j

. and any rotation of. the knob M, which thus Figure 9a is a view of a blank from which the member of Figure 9 is formed.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 3, I have here 2 shown my tuning device which consists of a $2,418,972 Tiff shaft In which in turn is an integral extension with. The bushing 11 passes'through the open-- ingin the front panel 2| of the housing of the device. A clamping plate 22 is rigidly secured at the outer end of the bushing I! in such manner that it rotates therewith. This clamping plate 22 cooperates with the locking device in themanner hereinafter described. a

A-tuning pointer consisting of a fiat member 24 is loosely mounted on the bushing l1 immediately upon the clamping plate 22. As is seen in Figures 3, 6 and 7, the entire tuning pointer consists of the loosely mounted plate 24 and an.- indicating member 25 which is secured to the plate 24 many suitable manner as, for instance, by the screws 21, and which projects substantially beyond the periphery of the clamping and over the calibrated dial 3D.

The indicating member 25 may be formed from any suitable transparent material having a line marking 3| thereon or attached therein for indicating the particular portion of the calibrating dial over which the pointer travels.

Obviously, my invention need not be limitedto this particular form of the pointer but any suitable pointer may be used for this purpose provided that its construction include the loose mounting: thereof on the periphery immediately.

behind the clamping plate 22.

The plate 24, which forms the base of the pointer,.is:slotted at 32 to receive the rivet 33.

The rivet- 33, as may be seen particularly in Figure 6,..is astepped rivet, the head 35 of which is rigidly attached to the clamping disk 22.- The body of the rivet 33, as has been pointed out,

passes through the 'slot 32 in the pointer and the base 36 of .the rivet is suiliciently wide to prevent dis-assembly of the pointer and the rivet slot 32 in the member 24. This permits the pointer to be rotated with respect to the clamping disk22 through a restricted arc. 4

'The locking member 38 has an opening .39

therein through which it may be mounted on the rivet. .This' opening 39 is substantially equalin diameter to the diameter of the main' body of the rivet 33 so that the locking member 38 has substantially no movement with respect thereto.

plate 22 facilitates the operation thereof. This extension will hereafter be referred to as tab 4|.

When the member 38 and its convex area 40 is in the position shown in Figure 6, the pointer 2425 is locked relative to the clamping disk 22 and has no movement with respect thereto, This is so because the apex of the convex area 40 bears against the inside of the clamping disk 22 while the edge 42 of the convex area 40 bears against the plate 24. Consequently, the pointer has no movement with respect to the clamping disk 22 causes rotation of the shaft l!ll| and of the clamping disk 2 2, will result in exactly similar .2 'while the indication given by the pointer is of The locking member 38 comprises, as shown in Figure 6, a convex dish-shaped area 40. In ad- 5 dition, it comprises an integralextension 41 which the convex side.

a frequency slightly above or slightly below the frequency to which he is in tune, he may quickly adjust his pointer so that it will indicate the exact frequency to which his set is tuned and so that all other frequencies will thus be indicated exactly.

For this purpose he then unlocks the pointer and moves it slightly to the correct frequency and looks it once more. This unlocking action is shown in Figure 7. By pulling the tab 41 of the locking plate 38 toward the tuning knob [4, the convex area 40 is by a snap action forced into a convex shape on the opposite side. This type of snap action is well known and needs no further explanation. It occurs wherever a'spherical depression is made in a piece of spring metal and thereafter the ends of the metal are bent toward When a sufficient bend has occurred, the-convex area will be snapped to the other side. Similarly, on a reverse bend, the convex area will snap over once more.

Here, as shown in Figure '7, depression of the extension 4| has caused the convex area to snap to the other side; while the apex of the convex area is now, in Figure '7, pressed against the plate 24 of the pointer 2425, the edge 42 is no longer pressed against either the clamping plate 22 or the plate 24. The plate.24 now may move freely within the restricted arc permitted by the slot 32 therein. The pointer 24-25 is now. moved so that the marking 31, thereon coincides exactly with the correct frequency on the .dial 30 and when this has been done, the tab 4| is now pushed 'beas long as is necessary for any anticipated deviation or error. In ordinary cases, such deviation or error from the showing of the exact frequency may be no more than 1 or 2 markings on the dial 30, so that the slot 32 need be only of 'sufiicient length to permitcompensation for this error.

Heretofore, in the use and arrangement of such calibrating devices, the locking means which looked the pointer in the reset position was of such a nature that movement thereof to locking position tended to cause a rotation or shifting of either the condenser shaft or of the pointer. For this' reason the locking of the pointer after calibration had,'been.made either required a great acre-om:

deal of" caution or it' was virtually impossible to lock the same" in correct position: without some shift.

In my invention this lockin is obtained by'a: movement in a plane which contains the axis of shaft I5; said plane being normalfto the plane of the movement of the members: which: are to be locked It can thus be seen that any force in the plane of the movement of the locking member can not cause rotation of the rotatable. members.

Thus, when. the operator desires: to'correct the calibration of his device, he: pulls the. tab H toward the knob M; which moves. the locking plate 38 axially. He then shifts thepointer 24.-' to the correct position and, after having made this shift, now pushes the-tab: 41:. toward: the pointer 25, thus: moving. the. convex; area. of. the. looking plate 38: axially oncemoreinto: the. tight frictional engagement of. Figure 6. None: of the locking, movements thus have. any tendency to disalign thenow calibrated members.

The clamp disk 22, in addition. to providing for the locking action of the pointer when it is desired to recalibrate the same, also provides for the much mor important action of making it possible for the operator of the device" to-retune the same to a desired. frequency by asimple manual operation Without thenecessity for visual or aural. attention.

This action is also shown atv the lower half of the broken perspective. views of Figures 6- and 7 and isaalso set forth in. connection with the other figures;

, Referring forthe: moment to. Figures 2, 3' and 5,, it will. here be seen that a notched disk. is securely mounted. on a bushing; 5|. in such. man-- ner. that it is. virtually integratedtherewith. The bushing, 5! isrotatable about. the bushin IT;

and. as may also readily be seen from Figure 5,.

the notched disk 50 is mounted behind the front plate 22. of the chassis.

The rotatable bushing- 5 I extends through opening 20 inthe; front plate 21 of the chassis and on: the exterior thereof has secured thereto and integrated. therewith the arm 52. Thus it may be seen that. rotation of the arm 52 will result in rotation. of the notched disk 50 and vice versa.

The. outer. end. of. the arm. 52' carries the clamping member 53; which comprises a threaded bolt 54'- havingtheknurled, knob 55- on the outer end thereof and passing through the tapped perfora tion 55in the end ofthe arm 52.

An additional clamping lock 58 is captured be-' tween thev outer: surface 50 of the end of the arm. 52 and the inner surface of the knurled knob 55.

The: shaft l0 passes through. a slot 82 in the opposite end of. the clamp member 58. The clamp member is therefore. held by the knurled. knob 55 at one end and the shaft Id at the other end. Figures. 8 and 9 show' the. construction. of. the bolt 54 and the clamp member 58. It: will. be seen that the end of the clamp through which passes the bolt 54' is folded back. upon itself.

The hole 83 is positioned in such a way that two ears 84 are formed on. the folded over portion of the clamp member 5.8. When the bolt 54 is passed through. the hole 83, the groove 85 in the bolt 54, which is shown. in Figure 8 comes within the. plane of the ears 814.. These ears are bent inward toward the center of the bolt so that they serve as retainers for the bolt 54. It can thus be seen that if the bolt 54. were to shake loose or become disengaged from. the tapped perforation 5.5. in the end of. the. arm 52', it. cannot becom lost as it. is retained; by the. clamp. 5& which. is. in

6 turn capturedby'the shaft' it between the; knob I 4 and the clamping disc 22; The-width of the slot 82 inthe end of the clamp member 58 and the diameter of hole 83 in the opposite end' areof such dimensions that when the-knurled knob- 5 clamp plate 22 and pushes it tightly against the surface 50 0f the end of the arm- 52, thus locking the arm 52' to the particular desired portion of the edge of theplate 22. Whenthislocking operatiorr iscompleted, the notched disk 55 on the insideof. the front plate of the chassiswill now.- rotate in exactly the same Way asall of'the other rotatable members.

This; rotation of the knob I14: will, through the shaft. lid-l cause the variable. condenser rotat able. elements. to rotate,

It will. also. effect. rotation of the. clamp plate 22. Clampin plat 22. will, in the. manner previously described, also ef.-- fact an exactly corresponding rotation of thepointer 24-25; and by reason of the locking am. tion of the bolt 54-, 55. and the clamping: member 58'. in connection with the arm. 52,. this. rotation of the knob 1:43 and: the plate 22 will, also, cause. an. exactly similar rotation of they arm 52 and. of. the bushing 5.1 and hence of thenotched plate 50..

When the; clamping action is removed, by 1-0- tation of. the head 55- of. the; bolt; 54 to disengaging; position, then rotation. of, the, knob M and; its as.- sociated members will not. result in rotation. of. the notched plate. 5.0:, or, at least, any member which engages. the notched plate 5.0 will. not in such case impede. the rotation of the, condensertuning. device.

The notched. plate 50, when it is, by means of thettighteningr of the head 55 of the bolt 54, en.- gaged with the plate 22 for rotation upon opera.- tion of the knob l4, may be in turn engaged by the, snap action locking member Hi (see Figures 2-, 3, 6e and 7.).

The action of. the: locking, member H1 is moreclearly seen. in the broken perspective. Figures 6' and 7. The locking member 10 is a snap action member consisting. of a flat piece of spring metal having a convex: area H formed therein. The. base of the metal member I0 is secured in any suitable manner as, for instance, by the bolts 13 and nuts [4 to a lug. 1:5 atthe-bottom of. the front 2}. of the cabinet.

The lug 15 serves as a spacer in order to position the plate it in appropriate relation to the notched disk 58. As may readily be seen in Figures 2, 6 and '7, the. notched. disk 50. is, provided with the notch 16..

The locking member 10 has at. its upper end op- .posite to the pointing attachment. a round lug 18 secured thereto in any suitable manner as, for instance, by a rivet; the said lug having a diameter substantially equal to the width of the slot 15. Preferably, the diameter of the button or lug 18' should be such as to permit it readily to enter into the slot 15 but so that it will nevertheless completely fill this slot when it. has entered the same to prevent movement of the notched plate- 50. A tab is secured in any suitable manner as, for instance, by the rivets 8! to the lockin plate 15 The locking plate 1-5 is so arranged 7 that when the tab 80 is depressed from the posi tion shown in Figure 6 to the position shown in Figure 7, the convex area II will be forced through center to the opposite side and the spring metal locking member 70 will be snapped to a position where the locking lug or button 18 will be urged into engagement with the surface of the notched disk 50.

When disengagement is desired, the lifting of V the lever or tab 80 from the position shown in Figure 7 to the position shown in Figure 6 will again cause the convex area to be forced through center so that the locking button or lug I8 is now urged away from the notched plate 50 in the manner shown in Figure 6.

When the locking member is pushed by the tab 80 into the position shown in Figure '7, then as has above been pointed out, the button or lug 78 engages against the surface of the notched plate 50. Now when the notched plate 50 is rotated to a position where the notch 16 thereof moves opposite the button 18, the button 18 will snap into the notch and this inter-engagement will prevent further rotation of the notched plate 50.

In use, the operator may adjust the equipment to a particular frequency so that when it is desired to return to this frequency he may do so without the necessity for further visual or aural attention.

After having calibrated the pointer 24-25 so that it accurately indicates the correct frequencies on the dial 38, he moves the tab 80 in a downward direction as shown in Figure 7. The knurled knob 55 is then loosened and the arm 52 is moved to a position immediately below the knob M at which point the locking button 18 is engaged with the notch 76. He then tunes the instrument by rotation of the knob [4 until the desired frequency has been obtained, whereupon he tightens the knurled knob 55. This procedure results in locking the tuning mechanism at the frequency selected. Raising the tab 80 disengages the locking button 33 from the notch 16 and permits normal operation of the tuning control. Whenever it is desired to return to the preselected frequency the operator merely moves the tab 80 into its downward position, places his finger beside the knurled knob 55 and pushes it down to the position where the tuning mechanism locks by virtue of the engagement of the locking button 18 with the notch 16.

In actual operation, of course, the operator need not and does not concern himself with the various types of engagement or inter-engagement of elements within the chassis.

The operation of the device as far as the operator is concerned falls into the following four elements:

(a) Calibration of the dial.

(b) Setting of the control unit so that it may be returned to a desired frequency.

() Tuning to other frequencies.

((1) Returning to a preselected frequency.

A. In calibrating, the operator performs the following steps:

1. He rotates the knob to select a definite frequency.

2. He pulls the tab 4| toward the tuning knob 14.

3. He sets the pointer to indicate the selected frequency.

4. He pushes the tab 4! toward the pointer 25.

The tuning system is then roperly calibrated.

B. To set the control unit so that it may immediately be retuned to a desired frequency, the operator may proceed along the following steps:

1. He moves the tab to its downward position.

2. He loosens the knurled knob 55.

3. He moves the arm 52 to the position where the locking mechanism engages.

4. He tunes the instrument to the desired frequency.

5. He tightens the knurled knob 55.

The set is now adjusted so that it may immediately be retuned to the selected frequency.

C. To tune to another frequency the operator proceeds as follows:

1. He moves the tab 80 to its upper position.

2. He tunes the instrument.

D. To retune to the pre-selected frequency the operator performs the following steps:

1. He depresses the tab 80.

2. He places a finger beside the knurled knob 55 and pushes it down to the position where the tuning mechanism locks.

Thus, without any visual or aural attention, he is enabled immediately to return to the preselected frequency,

It will thus be seen that the above operations may be performed in a minimum of time as a direct result of the design features disclosed.

In the utilization of so-called walkie-talkie devices in the field, it is clear that emergencies may arise which will not permit the operator to divert his attention to the tuning of this set to the particular or pre-selected frequency. In the utilization of the device of my present invention, the operator, having made the necessary preliminary preparations long before the emergency could have arisen, is at the time of the emergency able by two simple manual operations which require neither visual nor aural attention to tune to the necessary frequency. He is thus enabled to effect this tuning operation while maintaining the necessary observation which his duties or position may call for and the visual and aural alertness necessary for his own protection.

In the foregoing I have set forth my invention by describing one specific embodiment thereof. While I have shown this embodiment only in connection with tuning devices for radio transmitters and receivers, it is clear that my inven-- tion may have many and varied uses wherever it may be necessary or desirable quickly to rotate a member to a pre-selected position while at the same time making said member freely rotatable until it is necessary to rotate the same to that selected position.

Many variations in the specific embodiment above set forth and in the various applications of my invention should now be obvious to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, I prefer not to be bound by the specific disclosures herein but only by the appended claims.

I claim: v

l. A tuning device for radio apparatus comprising a rotatable shaft, a member rotatably journalled on said shaft, lock engaging means carried by said rotatable member, and means for selectively connecting said rotatable member to said shaft for rotation therewith, and a locking member selectively engageable with said journalled member and disengageable therefrom, said journalled member comprising a, disk, said lock engaging means comprising an opening in said disk and said locking member comprising a stud movable into engagement with the surface of said disk at a radial distance from the center thereof equal 

